I've been looking at possible choices for a compact rifle that would be useful for general hunting/survival purposes. I'm thinking of game in the small-to-medium size, such as antelope or small deer (100-200 pounds). For this reason I don't want to go to calibers as large as 270 Winchester or 308.

It seems like there are some good choices for rifles in the 243 Winchester caliber, or the .30-30. For example, Browning makes a nice takedown rifle (BLR rifle) that comes in the 243 caliber. Recently, Henry Repeating Arms has just come out with a new lever gun in .30-30. Does anybody have any thoughts about the tradeoffs between these two calibers (243 Winchesteer and .30-30) in a wilderness setting? The 243 would give a flatter ballistic trajectory out to longer distances, but the .30-30 is a classic deer bullet for a lot of practical situations (100-150 yards).

I thought I'd post the topic to this forum - to get some practical comments. Gun owners often have very emotional loyalties and opinions on their own blogs.

the other Pete